The effect of sub-dividing a population during selection was studied by selecting downwards for sternopleural bristles in Drosophila melanogaster. The four structures used all involved the selection of 40 individuals out of 200 measured in each sex. The alternatives were:

(i) one large line with the same selection procedure in all generations,

(ii) eight small lines with the same procedure in all generations,

(iii) the ‘single cycle’ structure in which large lines derived from crosses between selected small lines at either the sixth or twelth generation, and,

(iv) the ‘repeated cycle’ structure in which the best five small lines were mixed at the sixth generation of selection to produce a new set of small lines on which the procedure was repeated for a total of three cycles.

Of the first two methods, the large line had a higher final response than did any of the small lines. The latter, selected with an intensity of 5 out of 25 in each sex, had lower average final response than had a similar group of lines selected from the same base population with the lower intensity of 10/25. The results showed no clear effect of the sub-dicision of the population, followed by selection between lines, though they were in general agreement with theortical expectations. Several second chromosome recessive lethals were found at high frequencies in different selected lines. One of these, found in eight of the lines, had an effect on bristles in the heterzygote of about 1·5 phenotypic standard deviations. The evidence strongly suggests a pleiotropic effect on bristle score.

It is shown that, in a finite population, by ensuring an equal contribution of offspring from each family we achieve a higher selection limit than by using mass selection, given that the correlation between selection criterion and additive genetic value is sufficiently high. The difference between the selection limits of the two schemes increases with more intense selection. The theoretical results were verified by Monte Carlo Simulation, and the influences of several factors were investigated. It is shown that such a breeding scheme might be useful in dairy cattle.

We have studied the effects on fitness of allelic variation at three gene loci (Est-5, Odh, and Mdh-2)coding for enzymes in Drosophila pseudoobscura. Genotype has a significant effect on fitness for all six parameters measured (female fecundity, male mating capacity, egg-to-adult survival under near-optimal and under competitive conditions, and rate of development under near-optimal and under competitive conditions). No single genotype is best for all six fitness parameters; rather, genotypes with superior performance during a certain stage of the life-cycle may have low fitness at some other stage, or in different environmental conditions. Heterozygotes are sometimes best when all fitness parameters are considered. There are significant interactions between loci. The various forms of balancing selection uncovered in our experiments may account for the polymorphisms occurring in natural populations of D. pseudoobscura at the three loci studied.

This paper is devoted to the study of the effects of population subdivision on the evolution of two linked loci. Two simple deterministic models of population subdivision without selection are investigated. One is a finite linear ‘stepping stone’ model and the other is a finite linear stepping stone chain of populations stretching between two large populations of constant genetic constitution. At equilibrium in the first model the gene frequencies in each population are equal and there is linkage equilibrium in each population. The rate of decay to zero of the linkage disequilibrium functions is the larger of (1 – c) and , where λ1 is the rate of convergence of the gene frequencies to equilibrium and c is the recombination frequency. In the second model at equilibrium there will be a linear cline in gene frequencies connecting the two large constant populations. This cline will be accompanied by a ‘cline’ of linkage disequilibria. The rate of convergence to this equilibrium cline is independent of the recombination frequency, and, in fact, the gene frequencies and the linkage disequilibria converge to equilibrium at the same rate.

The larvae of Drosophila melanogaster feed continuously during their period of development. The rate of feeding activity, measured as the number of cephalopharyngeal retractions per minute, varies with the physiological age of the larva. Feeding rate responded readily to directional selection to give rise to non-overlapping populations with fast and slow feeding larvae, respectively. Realized heritabilities for the character from different selected lines varied between 11 and 21%. Crosses between the selected populations show significant dominance for fast feeding rate and appreciable non-allelic gene interaction. Larvae of the slow feeding populations showed a correlated reduction in locomotor activity but fast feeding larvae do not move about significantly faster than the unselected controls. Asymmetry of the correlated response to selection, it is argued, is due to selection in the slow feeding populations of alleles with a secondary effect in both behaviours.

Amoebae of the Colonia isolate of Physarum polycephalum produce plasmodia within individual amoebal clones.

This paper reports the derivation from the Colonia strain C50 of a strain CL (Colonia Leicester) which produces plasmodia in clones with high efficiency and which completes the life cycle reliably and repeatedly in single clones. The derivation of a line CLd (CL delayed plasmodium formation) is described and, using CLd, the construction of the isogenic heterothallic strains mt1; CL and mt2; CL.

The above strains provide a system for the isolation and genetic analysis of mutants of P. polycephalum within a uniform genetic background, in particular mutants expressed in the plasmodium.

Using this system two auxotrophic mutants have been isolated. Preliminary genetic analysis has shown that they are due to single gene mutations.

The genetic control of the sterility of male hybrids between certain laboratory and wild mice (Mus musculus L.) is investigated. The observed sterility is, by definition, hybrid sterility since both parental forms (i.e. wild and laboratory mice) are fully fertile, their male offspring displaying small testes with arrest of spermatogenesis at the stage of spermatogenesis or primary spermatocytes. Results of genetic analysis as well as the failure to detect any chromosomal rearrangements point to a genie rather than a chromosomal type of hybrid sterility.

Fifty-three wild males were classified into three sets, after mating with C57BL/10 inbred females, according to the fertility of their male progeny (set I – only sterile sons; set II – only fertile sons; set III – both fertile and sterile sons). The wild males of set I, which yield only sterile male offspring with C57BL/10 females, sire sterile sons also with females of the following inbred strains: A/Ph, BALB/c, DBA/1, and AKR/J, whereas the same wild males produce fertile offspring with females of C3H/Di, CBA/J, P/J, I/St and F/St inbred strains.

The described hybrid sterility seems to be under the control of several independently segregating genes, one of them (proposed symbol Hst-1) being localized on chromosome 17 (linkage group IX), 6 cM distally from dominant T (Brachyury). A chance to search for the mechanism of hybrid sterility is provided by the finding of two laboratory inbred strains, C57BL/10 and C3H/Di, differing with respect to the Hybrid sterility genetic system only at the Hst-1 gene.

Hst-1 is closely linked but apparently not identical with the sterility factor of recessive t alleles of the T locus.

The hairpin-tail allele (Thp) of brachyury (T) on chromosome 17 of the mouse is unique in that the phenotype of heterozygous offspring depends on which parent contributed the Thp.The present paper offers formal proof of this fact using the th2 allele of T as a marker, and discusses possible modes of action of the hairpin allele.

The melanotic tumour gene tu bw of Drosophila melanogaster has a specific suppressor su-tu. The genotypes tu bw; +su-tu and tu bw; su-tu show opposite responses, as measured by tumour penetrance, to increasing choline levels in the defined axenic medium. The three major metabolic functions of choline have been examined using additions to the axenic medium to determine which biochemical pathway(s) are different in the two genotypes. It is concluded that the opposite strain responses are due to changes in the pattern of phospholipid synthesis, and that the gene product of the su-tu gene probably functions in this area of metabolism.